Nose to tail mining

Here are six useful materials we’re extracting from waste:

1. Lithium

At our Boron Operations, California, US, we’re testing a process to extract lithium from waste rock created from over 90 years of mining boron. If our demonstration plant is successful, we could scale up production to 5,000 tonnes of lithium a year – enough to make batteries for around 70,000 electric vehicles.

2. Scandium

Our scientists at our Critical Minerals and Technology Centre in Sorel-Tracy, Canada, found a way to get high-quality scandium oxide from the waste created from making our titanium dioxide products. Considered a “critical mineral” by countries including the United States, Canada and Australia, scandium is used is a range of industries including aerospace and defence and clean energy technologies like solid oxide fuel cells. We’re currently trialling a commercial-scale demonstration plant, which can supply approximately 20% of the global market.

3. Tellurium

At our Kennecott copper operations, Utah, US, we’re building a plant to recover around 20 tonnes of tellurium a year from our copper refining process. We also extract seven other minerals and metals from the copper smelting and concentrating processes: gold, silver, lead carbonate, platinum, palladium, selenium and molybdenum.

Tellurium – one of the rarest elements on Earth – is an efficient converter of sunlight into electricity, so it’s used to manufacture thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. Tellurium can also be added to steel and copper, making them easier to cut, and to lead to make it stronger.

4. Alextra

We have created a new cement product – Alextra – by working with leading sustainable construction materials company Lafarge Canada. Alextra is made from used pot lining – part of the electrolysis process, where alumina is turned into aluminium – that has been treated to make it safe. Today, all pot lining waste from our Quebec-based aluminium operations is treated to make it safe, and around 80% is recycled into new products.

5. Anhydrite

In the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, we’re working with blueberry growers to make a safe and effective fertiliser from anhydrite. The mineral is normally found in rocks – but we produce around 85,000 tonnes a year in Quebec, Canada, as a by-product of our aluminium production process.

6. Monazite

At our QIT Madagascar Minerals operations, we’re creating extra value from around 25,000 tonnes a year of sand by extracting monazite – this is in addition to our core product of ilmenite, used in titanium dioxide production. Monazite is a rare earth mineral with many uses, such as heavy magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines.